Time flew by, and before long Akira was already eight years old.
Despite possessing jōnin-level strength, he continued to maintain above-average but unremarkable grades at the Ninja Academy, keeping a deliberately low profile.
Aside from a handful of people, no one knew that the harmless-looking boy was actually a ferocious beast in sheep's clothing.
---
After school that day.
Kakashi was away on a mission, leaving Akira free and relaxed.
His deskmate Ino Yamanaka lay sprawled across the desk, wailing dramatically.
"When will this misery ever end? Iruka-sensei's lecturing could put a monk to shame!"
Beside her, Hinata blushed deeply. After hesitating for a long time, she finally gathered the courage to look at Akira.
"Um… Akira-kun, my father said he'd like to invite you to visit our house."
Akira paused mid-motion while packing his bag, looking confused.
"Huh? Why does your dad want to see me?"
It wasn't exactly the age to be meeting someone's parents.
Ino's ears immediately perked up.
"Yeah! Why would the head of the Hyūga clan want to see Akira?"
Hinata's face turned even redder under the questioning.
"I… I don't know. Father just told me to invite you."
Seeing Hinata looking so pitiful, Akira sighed.
"Alright, I'll go with you."
After all, when the head of the prestigious Hyuga clan extended an invitation, it was only polite to show up.
"I'm coming too!" Ino immediately raised her hand.
Akira glanced sideways at her.
"What are you tagging along for?"
Ino puffed out her chest confidently.
"To protect you! Who knows what those stiff old Hyūga elders are plotting."
Akira twitched at the corner of his mouth.
Protect me? With those three-legged-cat skills of yours?
But after a moment's thought, bringing an outsider might actually lighten the atmosphere.
"Fine. Then let's go together."
---
The three of them had just left the school gates when Akira's steps slowed slightly.
The wind carried a faint yet nauseating metallic scent.
Blood.
Akira quietly expanded his sensory perception.
His expression darkened instantly.
The smell of blood was coming from the territory of the Uchiha clan.
"So… it's tonight."
The infamous Uchiha massacre.
While Ino and Hinata continued chatting beside him, Akira's mind was already calculating how he might take advantage of the chaos.
Right now the slaughter had probably just begun. Itachi and Obito were likely harvesting lives at full speed.
Going there now would be suicide.
Thousands of Uchiha clan members, hundreds of awakened Sharingan users—this was not a muddy water anyone wanted to wade into.
Better wait until the killing is nearly finished… then go pick up what's left.
With that plan in mind, Akira calmly followed Hinata toward the Hyūga compound.
---
The atmosphere inside the Hyūga clan was eerily tense.
Three-year-old Hanabi Hyuga sat beside her father, blinking innocently.
Meanwhile, over a dozen elders and elite members of the branch family knelt inside the spacious training hall.
When Hinata opened the door and led Akira inside—
more than a dozen pale Byakugan eyes turned toward them at once.
The scene was more terrifying than a horror movie.
Ino's face turned pale as she instinctively hid behind Akira.
Akira frowned slightly.
This didn't feel like an invitation at all—it felt like a tribunal.
Still, with the composure of someone possessing jōnin-level strength, he quickly steadied himself and walked directly to Hiashi.
"Clan Head. I've heard much about you."
He spoke calmly, neither humble nor arrogant, and didn't bother with overly respectful honorifics.
After all, Kakashi wasn't here. If things turned hostile, he couldn't afford to lose momentum.
Hiashi's imposing white eyes examined him before gesturing.
"Sit."
Even under such pressure, Akira's expression remained unchanged. A hint of approval flashed through Hiashi's gaze.
"No wonder Hinata has changed so much these past two years. You're clearly a promising young man."
"To stay calm in this situation… your average school performance must be an act."
Akira paused mid-kneel, surprised.
"You misunderstand. Hinata's improvement comes from her own hard work. I had nothing to do with it."
Hiashi waved dismissively.
"No need to be modest. Without your influence, Hinata's originally timid nature could never have endured such intense training."
Akira felt speechless.
Why is this credit being forcibly dumped on my head?
"Clan Head, if you have something to say, please just say it."
Hiashi didn't bother with small talk.
"You know Hinata is the heir of the Hyūga main family, correct?"
Akira nodded.
"Of course. It's her honor."
Polite words cost nothing.
Then Hiashi dropped a bomb.
"As the heir of the main family, her marriage must serve the clan. She cannot marry outside the Hyūga clan. Do you understand?"
Akira froze.
Then he nearly burst out laughing.
So these old fossils thought he was trying to steal their precious princess?
We're eight years old!
Could they please think a little more healthily?
Before Akira could explain, Hinata—who had been looking down the entire time—suddenly stood up.
"Father! I don't want to be clan head anyway!"
The outburst stunned everyone present.
Hiashi's face turned dark as he stood up sharply.
"Insolence! Even if you don't become clan head, Hyūga blood flows through your veins. Clan law cannot be defied!"
Seeing the argument about to explode, Akira felt a headache coming on.
He tugged lightly on Hinata's sleeve.
"Hinata, your father's right. Bloodline purity is important for great clans."
Hinata stared at him in disbelief, tears gathering in her eyes.
She was fighting for their future, and he was siding with her father?
Akira looked at the nearly crying girl and smiled gently.
"Sit down first. We're eight years old. Isn't it a bit early to talk about marriage?"
The tension in the room immediately eased.
Hiashi also realized he had overreacted—arguing with an eight-year-old was ridiculous.
He sat down again and sighed.
"Akira, I've been observing you for a long time. I know you're a smart child."
"The rules of the Hyūga clan have lasted for a thousand years. No one can break them."
Akira nodded with a polite smile.
Inside, however, he was ranting.
The Hyūga really do have a strange way of thinking. Guarding their cabbage from being stolen when the kid is eight years old… that's something.
---
This strange "banquet" lasted barely ten minutes.
Akira escaped the Hyūga compound with Ino as if fleeing a battlefield.
Outside the gates, Ino patted her chest in relief.
"That scared me to death! The atmosphere in the Hyūga clan is suffocating. Even worse than the old men in my family."
Akira glanced back at the towering walls.
"The deeper the noble house, the deeper the sea."
"And you should stop following me around all the time. People might misunderstand."
Ino stuck out her tongue playfully.
"I don't care! You're handsome and capable—of course I want to hang around you."
Akira rolled his eyes and ignored the two prematurely mature girls.
---
After parting ways with Ino, Akira didn't return home to sleep.
Instead, he went to his room and pulled out a demon mask he had made himself.
It was modeled after the masks worn by the Anbu, giving it a chilling appearance.
He pushed open the window and gazed toward the distant glow of fire rising from the Uchiha district.
His eyes sharpened.
"Hopefully I get lucky tonight…"
"Maybe I can pick up a pair of Sharingan."
His body might grow stronger without limits—
but that didn't mean he wasn't tempted by a convenient tool like the Sharingan.
Whoosh!
In the next second, Akira's figure vanished into the night.
Avoiding the patrol lines of Root operatives, he skillfully slipped over the back mountain and into the territory of the Uchiha clan.
The thick stench of blood in the air was nauseating.
The once-bustling streets were now eerily silent. Corpses lay scattered everywhere, and blood pooled into thin streams that slowly flowed along the ground.
"A true hell on earth…"
Even though Akira had mentally prepared himself, witnessing it firsthand still struck him hard.
"Itachi really didn't hold back. Looks like even stray dogs weren't spared."
"And that lunatic Obito… he's slaughtering his own clan like he's chopping vegetables."
Still, there was no time for sentimentality.
Akira quickly slipped into several houses and inspected the bodies on the ground.
The results were disappointing.
"Damn it! Every socket's empty!"
After checking more than a dozen corpses, he found that either they were civilians without awakened eyes—or the ninja who had awakened the Sharingan had already had their eyeballs removed.
"Did Obito bring a vacuum cleaner with him or something? He cleaned everything out!"
Cursing under his breath, Akira could only focus on his final target.
The clan leader's residence.
"The only hope left is Fugaku and his wife."
"Fugaku possessed the Mangekyō. Itachi probably wouldn't go so far as to gouge out his own father's eyes… and Obito likely wouldn't dare snatch them right in front of him."
With that thought, Akira wasted no more time.
His figure moved like a ghost toward Itachi's home.
It was a dragon's den.
But he had to gamble.
---
After infiltrating the large mansion, the silence was terrifying.
The only sound was the faint creak of wooden floorboards beneath his feet.
Holding his breath, Akira searched room after room.
Finally—
when he pushed open the study door, a powerful wave of blood stench hit him.
Two bodies lay collapsed together in a pool of blood.
Fugaku Uchiha.
And Mikoto Uchiha.
"Found them…"
Akira didn't allow himself even a second of hesitation.
His body flashed forward like a phantom, crouching beside Fugaku's still-warm corpse.
The thick smell of blood filled the room as he forced himself to open Fugaku's eyelids.
Thankfully—
the precious eyes were still there.
It seemed that despite his ruthlessness, Itachi had left at least one line uncrossed and hadn't removed his father's eyes.
Wait…
If I just dig them out and leave with them, what if someone walks in? That'd be instant social death.
Just as Akira's fingers touched the cold skin and he prepared to take the eyes—
something unexpected happened.
Suddenly, from Fugaku's dull pupils burst a surge of crimson chakra, saturated with terrifying resentment.
The change happened too quickly.
Before Akira could even pull his hand back, a torrent of brilliant blue chakra erupted from his own eyes.
The two energies collided violently in midair.
Then—like dry wood meeting fire—the crimson energy began to be forcibly drawn out of the dead man's eyes.
Akira felt an intense burning pain in his eyeballs, as if molten lava were being poured into them.
His ocular power surged at an unbelievable rate.
What the hell is happening?
Do my eyes come with a vacuum cleaner function? Are they stealing Fugaku's remaining ocular power?!
In fact, that was exactly what was happening.
His strange eyes were greedily devouring the lingering power of the deceased.
After all, Fugaku's Mangekyo Sharingan had stored enormous amounts of ocular power. He had awakened it long ago but rarely used it.
Now that vast reserve had found an outlet.
Once resonance was triggered with Akira's eyes, the power was swallowed like a whale drawing in water.
Akira didn't understand the exact mechanism, but his body told him the truth.
He was freeloading off the Uchiha clan leader's power.
Does this mean I won't even need those bloody transplant surgeries to unlock the Sharingan?
Even Akira himself barely understood the hidden mechanics of his body.
He was essentially experimenting as he went.
But one thing was certain.
His body was completely abnormal.
A true monster.
The strange absorption process lasted for nearly sixty seconds.
Only when the red glow in Fugaku's eyes completely faded did it stop.
At that moment—
Akira's vision suddenly sharpened.
Two complex geometric patterns seemed to form inside his pupils.
Even without a mirror, he knew his ocular power had undergone a qualitative leap.
The overwhelming sensation of power was intoxicating.
Did I just unlock the Mangekyō Sharingan… like some kind of trial version?
Akira froze in place.
The information flooding his mind made him suck in a sharp breath.
"So it unlocked just like that…?"
"These two abilities are ridiculously powerful."
This was the true power of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
A pair of cursed, ominous eyes.
As the Mangekyō awakened, Akira could clearly feel a cold and sinister aura flowing within his gaze—tempting him toward darkness.
But before he could savor the power—
a sharp whistling sound cut through the air behind him.
Killing intent erupted.
Akira frowned.
Without even turning his head, his body vanished at the last moment.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Three kunai slammed into the floor where he had been crouching just seconds earlier.
Moments later—
the blood-stained figure of Itachi rushed into the room like a grim reaper, killing intent still burning in his eyes.
Unfortunately for him—
aside from the two corpses, the mysterious intruder had already disappeared.
Itachi quickly approached his father's body and crouched down to inspect it.
After confirming that Fugaku's eyes were still intact, a rare look of confusion appeared on his usually expressionless face.
"Who was that just now?"
"Was that… space–time ninjutsu?"
His sharp combat instincts told him it wasn't the Body Flicker Jutsu.
It had been a true spatial displacement.
In his memory, the only person capable of something like that was the masked man who called himself Madara Uchiha.
But that man's Kamui worked completely differently.
The jutsu used just now felt closer to the long-lost Flying Thunder God Jutsu.
What confused Itachi the most was this:
If the intruder had risked his life to enter—
why hadn't he taken Fugaku's eyes?
Itachi checked again and again.
Not even a scratch.
It was bizarre.
Was the intruder's goal never the Sharingan?
Itachi didn't even bother checking Mikoto's body.
Logically, if someone wanted eyes, Fugaku—who possessed the Mangekyō—would always be the first target.
At that moment, a figure wearing an orange mask emerged silently from the shadows.
Obito Uchiha.
"What happened?" he asked.
"There was a third person here?"
After a long silence, Itachi replied quietly.
"Yes. Probably someone after my father's eyes."
"But it seems they failed and fled."
Obito's single eye narrowed behind the mask.
"Could it have been one of Danzo's Root dogs?"
Itachi shook his head slightly.
"I'm not sure… but it doesn't feel like his style."
Since Fugaku's eyes were still intact, Itachi didn't investigate further.
---
Meanwhile, Akira had already used his new ability to teleport back to his safe little home.
Standing before the bathroom mirror under dim light, he stared intently at his eyes.
With a thought—
the pattern in his pupils shifted into the eerie design of the Mangekyō.
Another thought—
the pattern receded into the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Then everything faded, returning to normal black pupils.
The control felt unbelievably smooth.
"These eyes are dangerously addictive…"
"Unfortunately, for a long time they'll have to remain my hidden trump card."
"One ability reflects all genjutsu… and the other is basically a life-saving teleport."
"I definitely picked the right skills on this tree."
Not only that—
after evolving to the Mangekyō stage, the chakra within his body had skyrocketed.
"Looks like I've officially stepped into Kage-level territory."
"Diving into the chaos of the Uchiha massacre tonight was absolutely worth it."
Sure, he had nearly run into Itachi face-to-face.
And honestly, Akira wasn't confident he could have escaped unscathed from that version of Itachi.
But the outcome was perfect.
He escaped unharmed—
and gained the power of a Mangekyō Sharingan.
His strength had undergone a qualitative leap.
This gamble had paid off enormously.
Still, Akira knew he had to be careful.
Those distinctive Mangekyō patterns were far too eye-catching.
If they were exposed, endless trouble would follow.
"If only I could find a sealing jutsu that hides the eye's appearance…"
Because the convenience these eyes offered was irresistible.
Whether it was reflecting genjutsu or instant teleportation, both abilities drastically increased his margin for error in battle.